Anjali Srinivasan marries past and present in her work

October 09, 2016

Text Maria Elena Oberti

ANJALI SRINIVASAN: My work varies with each project, ranging from the design of humble tools to the realization of spectacular installations. Lately I have been working on objects and forms that can grow, expand and mutate continuously over time.

Where do you find inspiration?

In life. Our days are packed with an immeasurable number of beautiful, fleeting moments. Whether it’s being delighted by a taste or disturbed by a sensation, I believe every minute of every day has the potential to feed creativity.

What are you proudest of?

The very thing I feel most uncomfortable about: the fact that I’m an artist. By ‘artist’, I mean someone who is able to approach the world in an unexpected way, someone whose hands can transform questions and thoughts into objects and experiences.

What is one thing you can’t live without?

Do parents qualify as things? I cannot imagine living without my parents or their blessings.

In no particular order: process-intensive, responsive, intuitive, honest and transformative.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I hope that my practice will bring me enough real-world experience to one day lead me to a teaching position.

Where do you think design is going?

I don’t think a single statement would be fair here. Each culture has its own ideas about design, and I couldn’t possibly claim familiarity with all of them. What I can tell you, however, is where I’d like to see design headed. I hope design will become more human-centred. I’d like to see fewer gimmicks and more thoughtfulness. I want to see designs that merge old and new technologies, ones that are both environmentally and culturally sustainable and that add value to human interactions, lift spirits and inform new ways of thinking and making. I believe design should be approached from the perspective of the object. If the object could speak, what would it say?